Field of Invention
This invention relates to a new barbecue grill smoker which improves the ease of use mostly for solid fuel grill smokers, such as charcoal or wood, but also for gas and electric grill smokers. Specifically, the barbecue incorporates handles that attach to the various components inside the cooking apparatus, a basket to support and sift the fuel after use, and legs located on the lid to support the lid in an inverted position.
Discussion of Prior Art
Cooking outdoors on a barbecue grill smoker is a popular activity supporting a healthy and flavorful eating experience. This method of food preparation is particularly flavorful when a solid fuel such as charcoal or wood is used. However, the use of solid fuelled grills is dirty due to the additional soot and ash created and costly due to the inability to reclaim the remaining fuel for later use once the cooking has been completed.
During the preparation and cooking process, there are several reasons that the food cooking grate needs to be removed from the grill smoker. Sometimes the grill smoker is cold, such as when the grill smoker is being prepared to be lit, but there are also times when the grate needs to be removed in the middle of the cooking process in order to retrieve food which has fallen below the cooking surface or, if solid fuel is being used, additional fuel needs to be added or rearranged. When using a modern grill assembly, these activities will burn your hands when the grill smoker is hot while a cold grill smoker leaves your hands covered in soot. Further, modern grill smoker assemblies do not provide a place to store the grate while you continue to work on the grill without transferring soot to where you are storing the grate or burn the storage surface when the grill is hot.
There have been several attempts to facilitate easy removal of the food cooking grate in the past in order to satisfy one or both of these tasks. Grill smokers currently on the market commonly have wire handles protruding upward from the cooking surface as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,490,452 to Schlosser et al. (1996). These handles are still within the grilling space and are subjected to the same heat, food and other cooking bi-products as the cooking surface. As a result, the handles are too hot to use during grill smoker operation and, when the grill smoker is cold, the handles are still covered in soot and food residue and cannot be used without transferring this debris to the user's hands or gloves.
Several patents have been issued for removable grill handles used to lift and manipulate the grilling or cooking surface. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,587,350 to Parke (1926), U.S. Pat. No. 2,597,477 to Haislip (1948), U.S. Pat. No. 4,471,985 to Mahoney (1984), U.S. Pat. No. 4,482,181 to Shepherd (1984), U.S. Pat. No. 4,801,166 to Jordan et al. (1989), U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,882 to Fielding et al. (1991), U.S. Pat. No. 5,729,854 to Powers (1998), and U.S. Pat. No. 6,000,739 to Zemit et al. (1999) have attempted to solve these problems using removable grill handles.
While these devices allow for lifting the grilling surface in either hot or cold conditions and also solve the problem associated with soiled handles, they do have distinct disadvantages. One major disadvantage is that the handle assemblies are not firmly attached to the grilling surface and, therefore, have limited control. While this may be acceptable when the grill smoker is empty and cold, it is higher risk when the grill smoker is hot and possibly loaded with food which adds significant weight in a cantilevered condition. They also rely on the stiffness of the cross rails within the center of the grill smoker where they are unsupported by the stiffer sections at the perimeter of the cooking surface leading to further instability. Insufficient stability when manipulating the hot cooking surface can lead to burns and dropping the food being cooked.
In addition, such removable devices can be easily lost, misplaced when needed, or left behind when traveling. To reduce the possibility of losing or forgetting the tool, many would likely store the tools inside the grill smoker which would then soil the handles of the tool.
Finally, these tools are designed for a specific construction for the cooking surfaces that they are intended to lift. For example, most of the tools can be used to lift a wire grate but cannot lift a cooking surface made from expanded metal due to the smaller openings.
Handles are frequently attached to the grilling surface in hibachi style and permanently mounted barbecue grill smokers found at many parks and recreation areas. These handles are used to adjust the height of the cooking surface relative to the heat source. The implementation of this design would not be feasible for an enclosed barbecue grill smoker. The large openings at the sides of the grill smoker would not allow for metering the air flow to and from the fuel as is common with consumer grade grill smokers. The inability to control the air flow leads to limited control of the heat during the cooking process and to fuel waste since the air flow cannot be stopped when cooking has completed.
To date, there have been no documented attempts to utilize handles, removable or attached, for the lower grates of the cooking apparatus that would enable removal of the fuel grate. Under current practices, clearing the ash in many cooking devices or reclaiming salvageable but previously used solid fuel requires removal of the fuel and/or the lower grate by hand so that the ash from the previous use can be removed. The user's hands become soiled in the process making the use of solid fueled grill smokers unpleasing to many. A handle connection to the fuel supporting grate was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,677,891 B2 to Stier (2014). However, the fuel supporting grate and handle are intended only to rotate the fuel supporting grate and enable a vertical fuel rack. In addition, the fuel grate and handles are assembled to the grill smoker in a way such that removal of the fuel supporting grate is not possible for cleaning of the grill or spreading the fuel after ignition.
During the cleaning, fueling, and lighting process for the grill smoker, the lid as well as various internal components must be removed and temporarily stored. Many grill smokers on the market today feature a hook to hang the lid on the base or a hinged lid. This satisfies the storage requirement for the lid, but no documented attempts have been found to provide storage for the cooking or fuel grates. The current state of the art requires that one or more of these grates must be stored outside of the grill during the cleaning, fueling or lighting process. As such, the ash and debris on these components will transfer onto where they are stored. Further, if the grill is already hot and additional fuel is required, there is no location to safely store the hot cooking grate.
Salvaging the previously used solid fuel remaining in the cooking device can save the user a significant amount of operating costs over the lifetime of the grill smoker. However, current practices discussed above prevent, or at least discourage, many users from salvaging previously used solid fuel. Furthermore, there is currently no easy way to transfer the salvaged fuel from the cooking apparatus to a charcoal starting device such as the one described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,167,040 to Byers (1965).
To address this, the salvageable solid fuel needs to be conveniently contained for easy removal and sifted to remove residual ash from previous uses. Most grills on the market have a simple lower grate used to support the fuel. When this is lifted to sift the residual ash from the previous use or the ash emptied from the firebox the solid fuel frequently falls off of the grate because the fuel is not contained at the edges of the grate. These fuel pieces must then be manually placed back on the grate soiling the hands or tools of the user.
Fuel grates with vertical walls have been used in some grill smokers such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,467,474 B2 to Hermansen et al. (2002), U.S. Pat. No. 8,677,891 B2 to Stier (2014) and US 2006/0042475 by Craig (2006). However, the baskets in these disclosures are intended to keep the exterior of the grill cool or perform radiant heat cooking and do not facilitate salvaging residual fuel from prior uses because they fail to fully encompass the fuel for the shaking and sifting process. Other fuel grates with vertical walls forming a maze have been used such as the ones disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,523,463 to Hogle (2003). However, fuel grates such as these are used to control the burn rate of the charcoal and not for containment of the residual fuel.
Drum smokers frequently use a basket to contain solid fuel. These baskets are intended to simplify loading the drum with fuel and maintaining an air space underneath the fuel. While the sidewalls can be sufficiently tall to facilitate the sifting process, this basket cannot be used to facilitate salvaging fuel because the air volume in such a device is large enough that fuel is fully consumed during the cooking process even though the airflow may be closed off. Should the volume be smaller in such a device, the sidewalls could not be as high which would then not allow for the sifting process. In addition, the handles attached to such a basket are maintained within the cooking chamber making them hot and develop grime coating on them. This soils the user's hands and having the handles in a heated environment prevent handling of the basket during operation.
The solid fuel within the grill smoker must be arranged differently for the lighting process relative to the cooking process. For example, solid fuel must be piled together in order to facilitate the lighting process when using a liquid lighting agent. The fuel must be maintained in the pile in order to speed bringing the cooking apparatus up to desired temperature. Once the grill smoker is up to temperature, the fuel should be spread out in order to create a wider, even heating cooking surface. Currently, piling the fuel in order to start the grill smoker is a dirty process performed mostly by hand while the only way to spread the solid fuel once it has been lit is to utilize a tool that fits between the rails of the cooking surface and push the solid fuel to the desired location. A spatula or tongs are frequently used to accomplish this task but they are then soiled and will transfer ash to the cooked food. Another approach is to use a specialized tool such as the one described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,260,896 to Dozier (2001). However, this device is only compatible cooking surfaces constructed from straight wire. It is also complicated to use as the tool needs to be inserted within the spacing of the cooking grate and then rotated normal to the installation direction before it can be used. Furthermore, an additional device must be purchased and stored.
3. Objects & Advantages
Accordingly, several objects and advantages of my invention are:                (a) a way to lift a cooking surface to add fuel to a solid fuel grill smoker without requiring a tool burning or soiling the user's hands;        (b) a way to lift a cooking surface to facilitate starting a grill smoker without requiring a tool burning or soiling the user's hands;        (c) a way to lift a cooking surface to retrieve food which has fallen below the cooking surface without requiring a tool burning or soiling the user's hands;        (d) a way to rearrange the solid fuel without requiring a tool or burning or soiling the user's hands;        (e) a way to lift the fuel supporting surface in order to assist in cleaning the grill smoker without requiring a tool burning or soiling the user's hands;        (f) a way to transfer fuel to an ignition device without soiling the user's hands;        (g) a way to lift the fuel supporting surface in order to sift or separate previously used solid fuel from the ash developed during the previous use without requiring a tool burning or soiling the user's hands;        (h) a way to support the cooking surface;        (i) increased the longevity of the grill smoker device by minimizing the contact of the fuel source with the outer bottom pan;        (j) a way to provide a cool handling or supporting location for the cooking surface or fuel supporting surface;        (k) a way to support the lid using the clean, outer surface while lighting or cooking on the grill smoker;        (l) a support for the lid during grill smoker cleaning;        (m) a way to store the cooking grate while adding fuel to the grill smoker;        (n) a way to store the cooking grate while preparing the grill for use; and        (o) a way to store the fuel and food grates during cleaning of the grill smoker.        
Still further objects and advantages for the attachment of cool and clean handles for the various cooking grates within an outdoor cooking device, supporting the fuel on a grate with sides for fuel containment during sifting, and support legs installed on the top of the lid will become apparent from a consideration of the ensuing description and drawings.